Will Safari 4 Mean an iPhone JavaScript Speed Boost?

Given that the iPhone's version of Safari based on the same open-source WebKit as the Desktop iteration, hope holds that a soon-to-come version of the iPhone's browser will deliver similar performance gains.

Safari 4 for Mac OS X and Windows includes a new JavaScript renderer dubbed NitroBoost that purports JavaScript performance four times faster than previous iterations of the browser and dramatically faster than rival browsers' engines. Given that the iPhone's version of Safari based on the same open-source WebKit as the Desktop iteration, hope holds that a soon-to-come version of the iPhone's browser will deliver similar performance gains.

While the iPhone is no slouch with regard to general page rendering relative to other mobile devices, its JavaScript performance leaves something to be desired. iPhone OS 2.0 delivered a noticeable boost, but still proves too slow for some JavaScript-based programs.

Prior testing of iPhone OS 1.x's JavaScript performance using Celtic Kane's benchmarks revealed performance 30 times slower than that of a 1.83 GHz MacBook Pro, with iPhone-generated test times in excess of 9000 ms on average. Under iPhone OS 2.0, however, Celtic Kane's benchmarks run the gamut in just over 6000 ms.